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Q&A with Drew Storen

Drew Storen has always been a favorite on Notes from NatsTown and as we said before inThe Storen Identity, Storen might not be Jason Bourne but he is special. He can’t fend off 30 people at once, dodge bullets or drive a car like Jeff Gordon during a high speed chase while weaving in and out of oncoming traffic. Well, he might be able to do all of that… he doesn’t know. He hasn’t tried. He won’t need to if he continues to sit batters down the same way Bourne puts bad guys on their back. They are one in the same, two people extremely good at what they do. He has this All-Star break off but it might not be long before he doesn’t.

I was watching you today running fly routes. Are you going to give your friend and Vikings running back Toby Gerhart some words of wisdom?

Far from it. I’m not very good at that.

You didn’t play football in high school, right?

No, I didn’t. I thought about punting my senior year.

Were you an avid soccer player?

Nope, just an avid punter at tailgates. So then I was like, yeah, I might try to do this. But then senior year I had all these official visits I needed to go on, so I couldn’t play.

Have you already requested a Brett Favre autograph?

I need to. I need to get his jersey so I can rock it during football season, even though I’m not a big Vikings fan. But I will be now.

Now to baseball–how have the first two months in the Majors been for you?

It’s going well. I’m starting to kind of get in my routine. I’m happy with my role. I’m happy with the way we’re turning things around here the last couple of days. Hopefully we can start the second half on a positive note and be in good shape.

Everyone in the bullpen seems to have great chemistry. How has that helped with your acclimation to the Majors–being able to freely ask questions and joke around?

It’s been my favorite part–such a great group of guys. There’s a lot of good camaraderie. That’s kind of been the biggest help for me. I wear out Tyler Walker. I really wore him out the first couple of weeks, asking him questions. Capps, all those guys have been awesome. I’ve been really fortunate.

You went from the Stanford cafeteria to the Nats clubhouse over the past year. Can you describe the past year.

I had just moved down to Potomac at this time. But it feels like it’s a lot longer than a year ago. It’s been crazy. But I’ve been fortunate. It’s one of those things where I appreciate where I’m at and I’m very thankful for that, but at the same time, I don’t want to go back, so I want to make sure I keep doing my stuff every day.

You’re the go-to guy for questions about Stephen Strasburg. Have you answered more questions about Strasburg than yourself?

Definitely. I would say so, which is fine, because I’ve had a front-row seat to the whole thing. So it’s been really cool for me to be able to watch it. It’s fine with me. I don’t mind the attention.

You’ve inherited 21 base runners but only three have scored. What has been the key to minimizing the damage?

I just go in there and don’t really try to worry about it. You worry about each pitch at a time and not try to think of, “Hey I haven’t had any inherited runners score.” Of course, I thought about that the day I did let my first one score.

So you jinxed yourself more or less?

Oh, yeah, absolutely. So you just kind of go out there and that’s your main goal, just to get guys out. And I like those situations. I’ve always been a fan of going in those situations.

Is going in with runners on base different than coming in the game in the ninth inning? Have you had to change your mentality now that you’re not closing?

No, not necessarily. I think it’s pretty much the same thing because it’s just minimizing the game and looking at one pitch at a time. I feel worse when they’re somebody else’s runners because it’s not fair to the other guy if I go in there give up his runs because I don’t do my job. It’s not necessarily that much different. I put that same pressure on myself.

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